i Road rage bill targets tailgating
Road rage bill targets tailgating
BY LARRY GRARD
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 02/20/2009

BY LARRY GRARD

Staff Writer

Drivers tempted to slow down -- or even tap their brakes once or twice -- when a vehicle behind them is tailgating, might want to think again.

If either a tailgater or a driver of a vehicle being tailgated is deemed to be driving to endanger, that person could lose his or her driver's license. The same goes for a driver who commits an assault in connection with a driving dispute.

An amended "road rage" bill offered by Sen. Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport, lies in the hands of the Senate's transportation committee.

A person judged guilty of road rage could lose his or her driver's license for 90 days, and be required to complete an anger-management course.

Rosen said he introduced the bill at the behest of someone who was assaulted last year in Hancock County.

"He convinced me that there was a need," Rosen said. "Under current law, no penalties relate to license suspension once you leave a vehicle and commit assault."

Rosen says he encounters tailgaters as he makes his way from Bucksport to Belfast on U.S. Route 1, and from there to Augusta on Route 3. He keeps his cool.

"I clip along at a pretty good pace, so when someone comes right up on my tail, I kind of revert to the old defensive driving course I took in high school," he said. "Don't lose your cool, and let them go by."

Easier said than done, sometimes.

Joseph Massey, chief of police in Waterville, said that tailgating "is a big problem." Massey, who lives in Clinton, recalls eye-opening instances of tailgating and road rage, both in his cruiser and in his own pickup truck.

"It's nerve-wracking for the person being tailgated; it diverts the driver's attention," Massey said. "People are willing to take chances. They jump lights, they're impatient.

"They're used to convenience. They don't want to wait for anything. The horns start right up if a guy who gets the green light doesn't start up immediately."

Massey travels Route 100 from Clinton to Winslow.

"One day, an SUV was behind me on Route 100, tailgating, and passed me," he recalled. "He wanted to pass the next car, too, but someone was coming in the opposite direction, so he pulled in right in front of me. Then he passed the second car.

"When I got to the Winslow-Waterville bridge, he was right there, two cars in front of me. He hadn't made up much ground."

While it might be the most common, tailgating is but one example of road rage. The chief recalled another time when someone driving a truck on Silver Street cut off a woman by pulling out in front of her.

"She chased him down Silver Street, speeding and blowing her horn," Massey said. "Finally, the truck driver pulled off on (Kennedy Memorial Drive). The officer got there, and the woman was screaming that he could have hit her. The officer reminded her that she was passing people, and speeding."

One time, Massey said he encountered an enraged driver while he was in his cruiser. Massey said he inadvertently had left his high beams on.

"The car in front of me let me go by, then pulled in behind me, flicking his high beams off and on," Massey said. "I pulled over. The guy banged on his horn, and I stopped him. He was enraged, and said that I did it first."

Massey said he acknowledged his own fault in the matter, and did not issue the man a ticket.

Franklin County Sheriff Dennis Pike says that according to current law, a vehicle must be under control at all times. A rule of thumb, Pike said, is that drivers should leave, at minimum, one car's length of space behind the car in front of them for every 10 miles per hour of speed. For example, someone traveling at 50 miles per hour should stay at least five car lengths behind another vehicle.

"But there is prosecution only after contact," Pike said. "We'll give a verbal or written warning for tailgating."

Pike said Rosen's bill would be useful in raising awareness.

"People are not focused while driving," he said. "It would be nice if people would leave a little bit earlier."

Larry Grard -- 861-9239

lgrard@centralmaine.com

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